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Not to take anything away from the great Sripraphai, but Ayada is everything that once-homey mom-and-pop shop is not: smaller and more comfortable, shockingly unhurried, ecstatically mellow. Factor in the ­superfriendly service, the cheerful décor, and maybe a tableside visit from chef Duangjai “Kitty” Thammasat, and you have the city’s best Thai restaurant. Which is not to say that food comes second to atmosphere here. On the contrary, the green papaya with dried shrimp is spot-on, the duck salad beautifully composed and compulsively edible, the larb extra larby. Best of all is the panang curry, which Kitty recommends you order with the most delicious duck we’ve ever had in a Thai restaurant. Like just about every dish here, it’s a master class in the Thai art of getting a bunch of headstrong flavors—sweet, hot, pungent, sour—to play nice. As everyone knows, you order dessert in an Asian restaurant at your own peril, but if there’s anything more perfectly ripe and sweet than ­Ayada’s mango sticky rice, we have yet to try it.
— Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld